This is the Catholic blog of Richard Marsden, doing exactly what it says on the tin. As well as my diary entries, it includes news and views from a young Catholic's perspective, primarily focusing on promoting the defence of human life from the moment of conception until natural death.

About Me

I graduated with a Journalism Studies degree from the University of Sheffield. I worked as a journalist in Northamptonshire for just under three years.
I have now returned to my home city of Hull in East Yorkshire ahead of beginning priestly formation at the Royal English College in Valladolid, Spain, in September 2010.

Other (not exclusively Catholic) blogs

Friday, 15 February 2008

Ampleforth

I arrived back to Hull last night from a thoroughly enjoyable symposium at Ampleforth. North Yorkshire really is God’s own county and I got chance to explore places that I’d not been to before during the free afternoons on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The six talks opened up enthralling lines of discussion with subjects ranging from the priesthood of Christ to how man’s humanity is related to the humanity of Christ. I intend to blog about each of the talks when I get chance.

On Tuesday afternoon, before going to pick two-day symposium delegates Ryan and Connor from York station, I managed to get up to the stunning 12th century former Cistercian abbey, Rievaulx. It was founded in 1132 by twelve monks as a mission centre for the colonisation of the north of England and Sctoland and was the first Cistercian abbey in the north. It is located near the quiant town of Helmsley in a beautiful setting in a wooded dale by the River Rye, sheltered by hills. The Abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538.

The ruins are now in the care of the English Heritage, a fact which flags up problems. Firstly, they tried to charge me £6 to merely park the car. That’s before the £4.50 entry fee. So I drove back up the road towards the village and parked on road for free. It was a gourgous day which made the photographs even more spectacular:

I'm afraid I'm now on the move again back to Kettering and then to London for the weekend. I'll give you more coverage when I can.